Communication network having a master-slave type series architecture and providing master-to-slave and slave-to-master communication

Claim 1

A communication network having a series architecture and comprising an electronic master device and a plurality (N) of electronic slave devices, each electronic slave device being provided with an associated connection device having a first input connected to a transmitting port of the relevant electronic slave device and an output, each connection device which is associated with a slave device other than the first in the series has a second input, the second input of the connection device associated with a j-th (2≦j≦N) electronic slave device being connected via a communication channel to the output of the connection device associated with the (j-1)-th electronic slave device in the series, the output of the connection device associated with the N-th electronic slave device being connected to a line input of a first dedicated line receiver having a line output connected to a receiving port of the electronic master device, said first dedicated line receiver effecting a voltage-level conversion in order to derive a relatively small voltage-level swing from a relatively large voltage-level swing applied to its line input and applying said relatively small voltage-level swing to its line output, each of said connection devices comprises voltage level conversion means connected between said first input and said output, said voltage level conversion means effecting a voltage level conversion from said supplied relatively small voltage-level swing to said relatively large voltage-level swing and applying said relatively large voltage-level swing to said output, each of said connection devices having a second input comprising a second dedicated line receiver for carrying out a voltage level conversion from said relatively large voltage-level swing applied on said second input to said relatively small voltage-level swing and for applying said relatively small voltage-level swing to an input of the voltage level conversion means of the corresponding connection device.